King of Lightning [HP FANFIC]

"Heh, aren't you pure-blood families the ones swimming in money? You still care about this little amount? If you don't have money, ask your family for it. Of course, if they don't give it to you, then I can only not 'protect' you . . ." Anduin emphasized the word "protect" with a malicious smile as he silently watched Rosier.

Rosier felt the hand gripping him tighten, and his face twisted in pain. Even if he were more foolish, he'd still know what this meant. Not 'protecting' him meant making his life a living hell. In an instant, Rosier felt his Hogwarts career plunge into darkness, but now he could only grit his teeth and nod.

Seeing Rosier reluctantly agree, Anduin rolled his eyes, thought for a moment, and then said, "Rosier, I won't make things hard for you. If you really don't have money to pay in the future, you can offer something else instead."

"What kind of things?" Rosier asked quickly.

Anduin smiled. "Information. Your Rosier family's inherited collection of books—of course, the ones I haven't read yet—or . . ."

Anduin then glanced sideways at Travers, who lay next to him, and said, "You can have this guy bring money and come bother me. Whatever I get from him can be used to deduct your share."

With that, Anduin let go of Rosier and walked over to Travers, searching him from head to toe. As expected, he found a money pouch. Anduin counted it and saw it contained 12 Galleons and 6 Sickles.

"See? Isn't this enough for your quota this month? Next month I'll round it down . . . let's say 8 Galleons for the protection fee. If you make any significant contributions in the future, I'll even give you additional rewards. How's that? Not a bad deal, right?" Anduin grinned at Rosier.

Does this guy even know what "rounding down" means? Shouldn't it be only 7 Galleons if he's really rounding down? Rosier grumbled to himself, casting a disgusted glare at Travers. If it weren't for this idiot, how would I have gotten caught up in this mess today? But now that Anduin had taken the money, he could only agree.

Seeing Rosier was being sensible, Anduin smiled. "Very good. Cooperate properly and I won't treat you unfairly. Also, if you have any information now, you can tell me straight away. Whether it's inside or outside of Hogwarts, as long as it's valuable, I'm a very fair person."

With that, Anduin placed his hand back on Rosier's shoulder, gripping tightly.

Rosier flinched in pain and couldn't help but grow nervous again. His thoughts raced, and in a panic he blurted out, "Uh, I . . . I thought of something. I once heard Quirk Wilkes, a third-year student, bragging at a party that his uncle was planning to cause trouble for the Order of the Phoenix around Christmas. Of course, it might just have been his boasting—not necessarily true."

"Are you sure?" Anduin's eyes sharpened instantly, locking onto Rosier.

"R-really. That Wilkes often bragged to us that his uncle worked for the Dark Lord, and he once told us stories about them attacking Muggles, which were even reported in the news." Rosier, terrified, spilled everything as soon as he was pressured a little.

He had only meant to scare Anduin, but hadn't expected to give away actual information. Around Christmas? Could the target be Lily and the others? Though he didn't know if it was true or not, Anduin preferred to believe it rather than ignore it, so he kept the information in mind.

After hearing this news, Anduin released his grip, and the overly nervous Rosier collapsed straight to the ground.

Seeing this, Anduin smiled at him. "That information has some value. Tell you what—I'll waive your protection fee for next month, and here's a potion as your reward."

He pulled out a bottle of Joy Potion and handed it to Rosier. Seeing that Anduin even carried potions, Rosier felt the man's depths were even more unfathomable and could only accept it meekly.

"Don't be so nervous—it's just Joy Potion. Take a sip now; it'll do you good." Anduin found it amusing how timid this guy was, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, someone in your family's a Death Eater, right? You sold them out that easily?"

Rosier could only manage a bitter smile as Anduin asked. "Not everyone's fully devoted to following the Dark Lord. The one who joined the Death Eaters is my cousin, Evan Rosier, first in line to inherit the family. He's extremely powerful and usually very harsh with us—few people like him.

Originally, our family wanted to remain neutral and keep out of things, but that Evan dragged the whole family into supporting the Dark Lord, so I didn't have much choice. I just wanted to keep my head down and get by at Hogwarts. Anyway, if anyone's going to have bad luck, it'll be him. It has nothing to do with me."

Rosier had now thrown all caution to the wind. He couldn't get out of this situation anyway. He uncorked the potion and took a sip, regaining some composure, then stood up again.

Anduin hadn't expected these pure-blood families to have so many complications. He gave Rosier a few more instructions, telling him to wait until Travers woke up and say that he too had been knocked out, pinning all the blame on Anduin. He didn't mind if Rosier even cursed him a few times in front of Travers. Then Anduin pocketed the money pouch and left alone.

Once Rosier saw Anduin truly walking away, he finally let out a long sigh of relief. He then looked resentfully at Travers lying on the ground, couldn't resist kicking him a few times, and as if all his strength was drained, flopped down on the grass, muttering fearfully, "That Anduin is too terrifying . . . His eyes—they're like an abyss, as if I'm about to be swallowed whole. This is all Travers's fault, that idiot, dragging me into this mess. I just wanted to get through life unnoticed, but now . . . oh well, let it all burn, I'm tired."

And with that, he fell into a deep sleep right there.

"Rosier, Rosier." Rosier was dozing when he suddenly felt someone shaking him. He woke up instantly, and when he looked up, it was Travers.

Travers ached all over, as if he'd been kicked countless times. He grimaced at Rosier and said, "You're finally awake. That filthy bastard dared to ambush us. How long were we out? The sky's already dark."

Hearing Travers's words, Rosier realized night had already fallen. Coupled with the approaching winter, he was nearly frozen stiff and could only sniffle before saying, "Let's hurry back to the castle. It's too scary here at night. I feel like I'm about to freeze to death."

Travers muttered curses about Anduin under his breath but had to agree with Rosier. The two of them helped each other as they limped back toward Hogwarts Castle. Their limbs felt stiff and their bodies ached. Rosier's injuries came from Anduin's kicks, while Travers's bruises, ironically, had been inflicted by the very person walking beside him.